{"id":12520,"date":"2024-11-20T12:07:41","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T16:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/nasas-swift-reaches-20th-anniversary-in-improved-pointing-mode\/"},"modified":"2024-11-20T12:07:41","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T16:07:41","slug":"nasas-swift-reaches-20th-anniversary-in-improved-pointing-mode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/nasas-swift-reaches-20th-anniversary-in-improved-pointing-mode\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Swift Reaches 20th Anniversary in Improved Pointing Mode"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s Swift Reaches 20th Anniversary in Improved Pointing Mode<\/h2>\n

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5 min read<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Swift Reaches 20th Anniversary in Improved Pointing Mode<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

After two decades in space, NASA\u2019s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is performing better than ever thanks to a new operational strategy implemented earlier this year. The spacecraft has made great scientific strides in the years since scientists dreamed up a new way to explore gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea for Swift was born during a meeting in a hotel basement in Estes Park, Colorado, in the middle of a conference,\u201d said John Nousek, the Swift mission director at Pennsylvania State University<\/a> in State College. \u201cA bunch of astrophysicists got together to brainstorm a mission that could help us solve the problem of gamma-ray bursts, which were a very big mystery at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Watch to learn how NASA\u2019s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory got its name.
NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gamma-ray bursts<\/a> occur all over the sky without warning, with about one a day detected on average. Astronomers generally divide these bursts into two categories. Long bursts produce an initial pulse of gamma rays for two seconds or more and occur when the cores of massive stars collapse to form black holes. Short bursts last less than two seconds and are caused by the mergers of dense objects like neutron stars.<\/p>\n

But in 1997, at the time of that basement meeting, the science community disagreed over the origin models for these events. Astronomers needed a satellite that could move quickly to locate them and move to point additional instruments at their positions.<\/p>\n

What developed was Swift<\/a>, which launched Nov. 20, 2004, from Complex 17A at what is now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Originally called the Swift Observatory for its ability to quickly point at cosmic events, the mission team renamed the spacecraft<\/a> in 2018 after its first principal investigator Neil Gehrels.<\/p>\n

Swift uses several methods for orienting and stabilizing itself in space to study gamma-ray bursts.<\/p>\n

Sensors that detect the Sun\u2019s location and the direction of Earth\u2019s magnetic field provide the spacecraft with a general sense of its location. Then, a device called a star tracker looks at stars and tells the spacecraft how to maneuver to keep the observatory precisely pointed at the same position during long observations.<\/p>\n

Swift uses three spinning gyroscopes, or gyros, to carry out those moves along three axes. The gyros were designed to align at right angles to each other, but once in orbit the mission team discovered they were slightly misaligned. The flight operations team developed a strategy where one of the gyros worked to correct the misalignment while the other two pointed Swift to achieve its science goals.<\/p>\n

The team wanted to be ready in case one of the gyros failed, however, so in 2009 they developed a plan to operate Swift using just two.<\/p>\n

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\"Swift<\/a><\/figure>
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Swift orbits above Earth in this artist\u2019s concept.<\/div>\n
NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Any change to the way a telescope operates once in space carries risk, however. Since Swift was working well, the team sat on their plan for 15 years.<\/p>\n

Then, in July 2023, one of Swift\u2019s gyros began working improperly. Because the telescope couldn\u2019t hold its pointing position accurately, observations got progressively blurrier until the gyro failed entirely in March 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we already had the shift to two gyros planned out, we were able to quickly and thoroughly test the procedure here on the ground before implementing it on the spacecraft,\u201d said Mark Hilliard, Swift\u2019s flight operations team lead at Omitron, Inc. and Penn State. \u201cActually, scientists have commented that the accuracy of Swift\u2019s pointing is now better than it was since launch, which is really encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the last 20 years, Swift has contributed to groundbreaking results \u2014 not only for gamma-ray bursts<\/a> but also for black holes<\/a>, stars<\/a>, comets<\/a>, and other cosmic objects.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter all this time, Swift remains a crucial part of NASA\u2019s fleet,\u201d said S. Bradley Cenko, Swift\u2019s principal investigator at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/a> in Greenbelt, Maryland. \u201cThe satellite\u2019s abilities have helped pioneer a new era of astrophysics called multimessenger astronomy<\/a>, which is giving us a more well-rounded view of how the universe works. We\u2019re looking forward to all Swift has left to teach us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swift is a key part of NASA\u2019s strategy to look for fleeting and unpredictable changes in the sky with a variety of telescopes that use different methods of studying the cosmos.<\/p>\n

Goddard manages the Swift mission in collaboration with Penn State, the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and Northrop Grumman Space Systems in Dulles, Virginia. Other partners include the University of Leicester and Mullard Space Science Laboratory in the United Kingdom, Brera Observatory in Italy, and the Italian Space Agency.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tDownload high-resolution images on NASA\u2019s Scientific Visualization Studio<\/span>
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By <\/strong>Jeanette Kazmierczak<\/strong><\/a>
NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/strong><\/a>, Greenbelt, Md.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Media Contact:<\/strong>
Claire Andreoli<\/strong>
301-286-1940<\/strong>
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov<\/strong><\/a>
NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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